one day
by kleiol
Summary: the summer before season 5, day to day, in the eyes of jackie burkhart. drabble-y series. hyde/jackie
1. day one

**i. summer**

The Wisconsin sun was beating down on the amazingly gorgeous Jackie Burkhart as she made her way to Eric Foreman's basement the day after she got engaged. A sticky sweet smile was glued to her perfectly tanned, well-proportioned face as she breathed in; exuberance and giddiness, and the freedom of the summer before her that she could taste. Every bone in her body zinged and tingled with happiness. The world seemed to have a clarity, a freshness to it. She was feeling everything like it was new, and she felt magical.

Jackie giddly made her way down to the basement, hopping on the steps leading to the door. She couldn't reign in this happiness if she tried. She was a bit mad that michael neglected to answer his phone the night before, or that morning, but he had to be down in the basement and if he was, she would dispel any worries he had about their upcoming wedding.

"Michael!" she gleefully sang out, throwing open the door but stopped short at the sight of a nearly empty basement. The only people there were fez and hyde.

"Well, if it isn't the blushin' bride?" Hyde said cheerfully.

Jackie, glowered at him, her good mood diminishing, and there was a cruelty to Hyde's bright smile that she recognized and settled a stone in the pit of her stomach.

"Where's Michael?" She snapped.

Hydes smiles widened,and she felt a bit sick, and he said, "Looks like the groom-to-be fled to California with Donna."

And the amazingly gorgeous Jackie Burkhart thought surely, he must be lying. So she leveled a glare at him for that sick, dirty lie, and spun on her heel and flounced off to find her Michael.

 **ii. denial**

And so she searched, high and low for her Michael, but she could not find him, not at the hub, not at his house, not even at any of the houses he frequented to play with dogs.

And the sun went down, and Jackie Burkhart went down to Eric Foreman's basement. There was Steven and there was Fez, but there was no Donna, and there was no Eric, and there was not her Michael.

She looked at Steven, and placed a hand on the basement door to close it. Sadness curled her lip and formed a lump in her throat and opened her mouth to ask: "why would he do this to me? He _proposed_ to me."

Jackie Burkhart though Donna Pinciotti was tall and abrasive and not nearly girly enough as she should be, and a bit of a slut since she was off in california with her boyfriend, her _fiance,_ but in that moment she wished she was there, because hyde had never been touched by the hand of love as she had. Hyde was cruel cruel cruel, and he said: "Well, think about it Jackie, who _would_ want to marry you?"

"Oh, I would." Fez said reverently, and they ignored him, as per usual.

"Who _wouldn't?_ " Jackie snapped. White, hot fury was crawling up her throat and she felt a little dizzy from all the emotions passing through her. _Michael, michael, michael, stupid michael michael michael._ "I'm gorgeous, rich _and_ popular! What more could a man possibly want that I couldn't deliver?"

"Well," Hyde said, and the callous smile was back and Jackie decided that however much she hated Michael, in this moment she hated Steven all the more. Even though she didn't hate Michael, not really, because he wouldn't leave her, he _couldn't_ leave her, not again. He _loves_ her, he _proposed._

"You suffer from a severe case of bitch-itis, which makes you fundamentally 'not-marriage type'." He said, his hands in the air for air quotes.

"Oh please, Hyde." Jackie said, nostrils flaring. She felt warm; this was familiar. This is what they do in the basement, they _burn_ each other. "The only girls that are marriage type for you are ones that you can _pick up_ on the _street corner_."

"Hyde, my friend, you might want to get some ice for that wicked ah-burn." Fez said, and as soon as he did the small smile on his face vanished, and there was a pause. The basement seemed to take a breath, and the silence was loud. Steven looked uncomfortable. They could all hear a faint echo of Michael's resounding, "BURN!", and Donna's laughter and suddenly Jackie felt off-balance because now. _Now_ , this felt real. Michael had left her. Michael had _left her._

"Oh!" Fez cried suddenly. "I miss my good friend Kelso! I can't believe that sonova bitch left me!" And then he got up from the lawn chair so quickly that it fell over, and he walked to the basement door.

"Good day my friends! I must go. It hurts too much to be here, standing where he once stood." He said, and left.

 **iii. grief**

When Fez left, the basement seemed to get quieter.

Jackie's brain doesn't quiet down, and she feels a bit sick. It's not quite the same sickness as when she found out he was cheating on her. This doesn't just sit in the pit of her stomach it's thrumming all throughout her body, to her toes and the tips of her fingers. She feels magical again. Michael's made her feel magical again but there wasn't the clarity of before there. There was just a hazy fog. Her brain was moving fast but the world was muddled and grey.

"Are you okay?" Hyde asked gruffly, and Jackie snapped back to reality from inside her own mind. She looked at him and crossed her arms.

"Why do you care?"

"I don't."

And then there was a silence as Steven turned back to the T.V blaring "The Price is Right." Jackie took a deep breath and hugged her body tightly.

"I guess I should've expected this, huh." She says.

"Yep." He says.

Jackie goes to sit on the couch besides his chair and crosses her legs.

"Don't cry." He says.

"I'm not." She says.

"Good, because I'm not gonna comfort you."

"Good, because I don't want you to."

"I mean it, Jackie."

 **iv. cruelty**

Jackie knows Steven is not really cruel. He's just poor, and poor people are awful so he doesn't know how to be any better than how the world twisted him when he was young. Jackie thinks he uses the cruelty he was taught as a shield, or maybe he's just reflecting what had happened to him. Jackie spends a lot of time thinking about Steven and his cruelty because she knows he is not truly cruel. No one could be truly cruel when the hands that wiped away her tears were so gentle, and the eyes that stared into hers as he explained, " _It's just Kelso,"_ were so understanding. No one could be cruel enough to fake that kind of compassion. Not even Steven.

* * *

The tone kind of changes from 'drabble to drabble' and that's on purpose. I was planning on posting three 'drabbles' per published chapter but I didn't like how incomplete it felt to leave off with just guilt. Please review, thank you!


	2. variety, vacation, anger

""It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only."— A Tale of Two Cities , by Charles Dickens

* * *

 **V. Variety**

When Jackie wakes up the next day, she feels the refreshing balm of the knowledge that it's a new day. A fresh, new day where she's not going to get severely disappointed again by someone she thought loved her. Again.

Although, today it's considerably harder to find the energy to get out of bed, even though her pillows and covers and stuffed animals are damp from the amount of tears she's shed.

Her heart still feels tender, but today she has a grasp of the fact that Michael Kelso is a piece of shit, so that takes some of the edge away.

She spends the whole day brooding in her room, getting up sometimes and making it to her door for food, before abandoning it and just roaming around her room, picking things up she's gotten from Michael Kelso, the piece of shit, and throwing into an old shoebox. The shoebox isn't even hers, it's too big, it's Michael's, from the time she bought him converses. The palm of her hands itch to think about how much _money_ she's spent on this jackass.

Except. He wasn't really a jackass.

Jackie had much to choose from in the dating pool in point place, being the daughter of a councilman and all, but she choose Michael because despite his shortcomings he could be so _sweet._ Like the night he proposed, when he said he chose her out of all the girls in the hub. That's was what relationships were made of, choosing each other out of everyone else. Jackie wanted Michael to choose her, forever.

And that's why he left.

For the variety of choices to do it with in California.

 **VI. Vacation**

Jackie manages to make her way down the stairs foggily one day. She hasn't bothered leaving her room in almost a week, Michael was gone, and all of her rich friends from highschool had probably already started their vacations, and lord knows she wasn't wanted in Eric Foreman's basement.

She stops abruptly at the bottom of the staircase at the sight of her Mother's elegant Louis Vuitton suitcases stacked on top of each other in the foyer. She tilted her head and frowned, and a moment later, her mother herself came sweeping in from her father's study, two maids following her and gathering her bags and taking them outside.

"Mom?" Jackie said, frowning.

Her mother's head snapped towards her, a disgusted scowl plastered onto it, that quickly filtered into the pleased, hazy thing her mother got whenever she looked at Jackie. Jackie ignored it.

"What are you doing? Where are you going?" She asked.

"Oh," Her mother said, raising a thin hand and waving it in the air as if to wave her question away, "Just on a small more important thing is what _you_ are doing? I haven't seen you in days! Not since you came home screaming about you were marrying...um…"

"Michael Kelso." Jackie said, stepping down to be level with her mother, whose hands raised up and caressed her face gently as she said:

"Yes, hm, Keslo! Whatever happened to that?"

"It's...c-." Jackie stopped herself from saying 'it's complicated.' It was most certainly _not_ complicated. It was just _Kelso._

She cleared her throat, "That's...off, Mom."

"Oh. Well not to worry Jacquelyn, I'm certain you'll find someone even better to get married to. After all, you've got my looks!" She said, patting her face. Jackie smiled. The door opened, and one of the maids stepped inside and told her mother her car was ready.

"Oh well, I'm off now Jackie! I'll see you soon darling, tata!" Her mother whirled away in a flurry of soft silk and blonde hair, and the maid waved goodbye to her, and Jackie wondered briefly why her mother was taking their maids before she was left alone again.

The silence of the foyer seemed loud suddenly, pushing against her ears and making them ache. Jackie went back to her room.

 **VII. anger**

Jackie's bright pink scissors sliced through michael's face with harsh precision one good time before she realized he just wasn't worth it.

cold anger chilled her bones and crept it's way over her heart. she felt a sense of calm that had alluded her since her and michael's reunion, and she carefully placed the scissors down among the pictures that had already been obliterated. she picked up the remaining ones and leaned across her bed to the trashcan, forcing herself to toss them into the bin nonchalantly. Jackie flicked the ruined pieces off the bed for the part-time maids to get, then she stretched and got up and prepared for the day like she would any other even though it was now nearing noon.

She showered, and spent a ridiculous but perfectly necessary amount of time picking out her outfit; she didn't know where she was going yet, but wherever she was going she was going to look put-together. She was going to do what she always did, because she was jackie burkhart, and the abandonment of a man who had continuously cheated on and lied to her was not going to throw her off of her game. Not one bit.

* * *

as im rereading this im noticing how like dramatic it is and im kind of sorry? kind of not? i wanted a story where jackie feels the loss of kelso very harshly, but heals thanks to her own self and then moves on thanks to the help of others and then proceeds to have a summer where she just experiences things. so thats what you have to look forward to if i don't run out of steam because I just got back to season 7 and i actually watched it this time and towards the ends the characters just get so annoying that i didn't even laugh at any of the jokes anymore and went back to season 5.

anyways rant over! please leave a comment! tell me how i'm doing! tell me how i can improve! tell me if you hate it so i can stop! also jackie's mom says keslo on purpose. next chapter has hyde/jackie at the beginning


	3. b-day, sauna, lunch

**Viii. birthday**

'Her game' happened to be going to eric foreman's basement and making her presence known, because even if she wasn't particularly wanted there that had never stopped her before.

It's fez's birthday when she makes it down to the basement, and Somehow they've gotten eric out of his room for fez's special day, and hyde pulls out a few crates of beers and that's how they celebrate. Fez makes a speech about how happy he is to be in america, because at 18 in his country, they have to do things that are to horrible for him to speak of, and steven laughs and nods.

Jackie's feeling very awkward about steven, since she insulted him out of misplaced anger and shock, and then he turns around and comforts her. She can't help but compare him to michael, and finds that where she once thought michael was the sweetest boy in the world, she now finds him lacking. Her and steven had gotten closer after the veteran's day kissed, and when she got back with michael had drifted back and forth between not-quite comfortable camaraderie whenever she burned someone, and flat out ignoring the other. She's been doing a lot of thinking now, and steven was always sweet and honest with her in his own kind of way and michael can't compare.

She can't ignore steven now though, even though he is clearly doing that to her. She doesn't like feeling awkward, because she's jackie burkhart and she doesn't get phased by rude comments and she _doesn't_ feel awkward. But of course Steven had to contradict that, just like the fact that he was a burnout but also one of the sweetest most compassionate guys she's ever met and that just defies all laws of nature.

So, once eric and fez are buzzed and eric is distracting fez with his woes about Donna, Jackie turns to steven, because of course she's not going to apologize to him when those two idiots were watching. She'd never hear the end of it from eric. She sees him glance at her from behind his glasses, and then back to watching eric and fez with removed interest. She rolls her eyes.

"Look Steven," She said, and waited until he grunted in confirmation that he was listening, "I'm sorry about, like, snapping on you the other day, I was just-."

"Whatever, Jackie." Hyde said, shrugging, "You just burned me, it's what we do down here, and what a wicked burn it was." He sounded approving.

"Yeah, but-." Jackie faltered, pressing her lips together. He was right, and now Jackie felt even more awkward because now her chest was fuzzy and filled with confusing, confusing things that she didn't want to think about and that she wasn't going to think about because then she would frown and frowning gave way to premature wrinkles. So that was a _no._

Jackie leaned back into the couch, eyes still trained on Steven and mouth curled into a small pout. She tried to ignore the weight of unknown heaviness in her chest; it felt like a thousand bees were fluttering through it but she didn't know what they wanted.

Stevens eyes flickered back over to her again, and their eyes met. Jackie felt her body heat up and her palms begin to sweat, and felt thankful that her slight inebriation could be to blame for the pinkness in her cheeks.

Steven grunted and then sighed, "Look, you know what? I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have dropped Kelso's leaving on you the way I did, and I shouldn't have said what I said." He said, then nodded firmly and took a swing from his beer.

Jackie felt all of the tension in her chest leave her body slowly, like water flowing down a peaceful stream, and an extreme amount of satisfaction. It warmed her body to it's core, unlike the heat she felt only moments before. This warmth wrapped around her body like a warm hug and Jackie felt as victorious as she did when Michael submitted to her hand. She felt as though she'd made Steven bend to her will, even though she didn't know she wanted him to apologize back, and it felt good.

"Steven," she said then, slowly, "are you _drunk_?"

Steven hesitated, before his lips flickered into a smile. He took another swig of beer and grinned at her, before saying "'Course I am."

Jackie nodded. She was satisfied, because of course, even if steven was one of the most compassionate people she'd ever met there is no way he would apologise to her unless he was _way_ under the influence. It just defied all laws of nature.

 **Ix. Sauna**

Jackie sat outside on the stairs of the deck that opened up into her backyard, sucking on a red popsicle and marvelling at the cut of the beautifully placed topiary. Jackie popped the popsicle out of her mouth, then ran her tongue down the length of it, her mind flashing briefly to Michael and how she'd seduced him like this once before. Not that he particularly needed to be seduced, because he was always ready.

Everything reminded her of Michael, and Jackie felt a rumble of anger in her chest at the thought of him, and she was quickly becoming used to it. Today was a particularly hot day in point place, probably the hottest she'd ever experienced. Her world still felt a bit off-kilter with his absence. If he were here, they would probably be experimenting with the popsicles and ice to help them 'cool off', or he'd suggest anything remotely related to sex. But he wasn't there, and she didn't quite know what do with herself.

Jackie sucked on her popsicle again, and thought about going to the eric's basement, just for something to do, but she didn't particularly _want_ to spend what looked to be the hottest day of the year cooped up.

Jackie again looked at the topiary, awed by it. It was incredible and she'd never known it was there. Her parents had never liked throwing parties in the backyard; it wasn't 'Burkhart Standard', so all parties were hosted indoors or another venue, and Jackie wasn't allowed there while it was being redecorated. As soon it was finished, though, Jackie's mother had lost her passion for throwing wildly extravagant parties, and began taking spontaneous, short vacations. Jackie didn't mind, they were always short enough, and her mother listened to her as she spoke about what she'd missed.

Jackie fiddled with her popsicle stick, sucking on the last bit that was melting in her mouth. The time in-between her mother's vacations was getting shorter now, though, and whenever she'd caught up with her mom she always smelled like alcohol. Jackie didn't hate her though, because she always _used_ to listen, and the vacations and the drinking were probably the effect of her father persuading her mom to quit her real estate job. She was just going through a hard time. It would get better soon.

Jackie stood up and threw her popsicle stick into the trashcan outside, and then walked into her house, shaking off her sadness. Times like this made her miss the distraction from her mother Michael provided, and Jackie felt anger tingle in her fingers and annoyance bury itself into the back of her brain. Her mind couldn't help bouncing itself from her mother to Michael and back and she needed something to distract her.

Jackie fanned herself, humming to herself as she walked to her room.

"Hottest day of the year….what-do-I- _do_?"

;

Jackie ended up at a country club, a ways away from Point Place. All of the rich kids and jocks went there, and since most of them were probably on vacation, she hoped the swimming pool would be blessedly empty. If any of them saw her in her bathing suit it would start a riot, and as much as she liked being the center of attention, all she wanted to do was swim her emotions out. This was the one place she never took Michael, and the country club her mother hated because of how tackily it was decorated inside, so she wouldn't be reminded of them.

Jackie let the heavy locker room door bang shut behind her as she stepped out into pool area, and kept her eyes down as she instinctively walked towards her favorite starting block. She lifted her eyes as she put on her goggles, hearing splashing at the other end of the pool. She grimaced when she saw the flash of a head and arms and feet. She really wanted to be alone, but she scanned the rest of area, and they seemed to be the only two people there, so she could deal.

"Jackie Burkhart?"

Jackie started, and slipped from her place perched on the starting block, and fell into the water, nearly hitting her head on the edge of the pool. She swallowed a mouthful of water before coming back up, choking and gasping as arms reached around her and pulled her up. Jackie's but found the edge of the pool and she sat there, trying to catch her breath as towel was placed gently on her face.

"I'm so sorry." A voice said sheepishly, and the voice was a smooth timbre she hadn't heard recently.

Jackie coughed one last time, taking the towel and drying off her face, before she removed her goggles and dried her eyes. Jackie blinked rapidly at the face of-

" _Buddy Morgan?"_

"Yeah-hey! I wasn't sure if you would remember who I was."

"Yeah why wouldn't I? You were the nicest rich kid I'd ever met-I always thought you were a weirdo."

Buddy just laughed and shook his head, and Jackie frowned.

"See, my point exactly. Anyone else would've made a backhanded comment about my family or something if I'd called them weird. Not that I would've cared, of course."

"Of course." Buddy nodded, smiling mysteriously and Jackie frowned again. He looked so happy he was glowing and Jackie felt a small ache in her heart, and looked out over the water, feeling like her skin was gonna come right off her body if she didn't get in the water soon. Jackie put down the towel, and snapped her goggles back on. She glanced back at Buddy while she stood up and he just raised amused eyebrows at her. Jackie's eyes faced back forward, but Buddy spoke again.

"I'm not as nice as you think I am actually." He said, and Jackie looked back at him again, this time raising one of her eyebrows.

"I called out to you because I wanted to ask you something that I probably already know the answer to. If I were as nice as you think I am, I would've let it go."

Jackie paused the restless movement of her leg while she was waiting for him to finish. If she were anyone else, with any other upbringing she would've dived in already, but her upbringing was impeccable. Jackie's mind's eye flashed to her mother briefly, and she let out a sigh.

Jackie turned to Buddy and crossed her arms. "If whatever you have to ask me is as bad as whatever reason you left town for, go ahead and ask me, but you have to tell me why you left town so suddenly after your little 'friendship' with Eric."

Buddy looked nonplussed, and Jackie thanked her impeccable upbringing briefly, before turning back to the water, preparing to dive in again.

"That-." Buddy said. He cleared his throat. "Oh, that-. Word. Word got out after out 'little friendship' that I was not straight-."

"You're _gay?"_ Jackie gasped incredulously, shoving her goggles up again and sitting down next to Buddy. She noticed that he had on swimwear but he wasn't wet anywhere except for where his legs were in the pool.

"Yeah." The blinding smile was back. "I'm gay. After word got out I started getting death threats at school and then at home, and my Dad was probably going to lose his job, and so we had to move." He closed his eyes briefly. "I never realized how small Point Place was until I was being threatened by people who I thought were my friends, and _their parents_ were threatening my Dad."

"Oh." Jackie said awkwardly. "I didn't know that happened. I'm sorry."

"Yeah. We moved to California."

Jackie's heart did a somersault at the mention of California. She thought whatever he'd have to ask couldn't include any of the two thing that caused her heart the most turmoil, because he'd been away for so long he wouldn't be clued into any happenings in her life. Everyone here was. Point Place really was small.

Jackie shifted uncomfortably, eager to change the subject. "So, what are you doing here?"

"Visiting relatives." He said simply. He wasn't looking at her, his eyes were turned to the person swimming she had spotted earlier, and she stared at the side of his face. He looked like he was contemplating something. His eyes flicked down to the water and he kicked his feet out, making a small wave.

They sat in silence for a while, the minutes slipping by slowly. Jackie's rapidly beating heart penetrated the silence, the splashing of the other swimming fading as she waited for Buddy to mention Michael.

She heard Buddy exhale, "So I saw Kelso before I left a few weeks ago."

Jackie frowned. Then cringed when she realized more time had passed then she'd realized. It'd been almost a month since Michael left, and she'd spent over three weeks cooped up in her house before she finally went to Eric's basement for Fez's party. She'd been out a few more times the past two weeks, back to Eric's basement and to the mall. Most days she only spent an hour or two at Eric's, because Eric cooped himself back up in his bedroom, and Steven was usually at the Fotohut. She found herself either completely alone, or alone with Fez, neither of which she liked.

"He was all over some girl with huge boobs." He looked at her. "What's that all about?"

 **X. Lunch**

Jackie felt hunger gnawing at her stomach as she drove back to Point Place. She was exhausted after she swam for almost two hours after Buddy left. It turned out that the other swimmer there had been his boyfriend from California, who'd come back with him so they could be public with their relationship for once, since they were in the closet in Cali.

Jackie's head and chest felt like a jumbled mess. There was a bit of the anger she had gotten used to coming whenever she thought about Michael, but there was also a lot of sorrow. A different sadness then the one when he'd first left. That had just drained her. She couldn't place a name to it, and she didn't want to think about it anymore.

Jackie's thumb moved involuntarily to her mouth, and she opened her mouth to bite on the nail before she realized what she was doing. She put her hand back on the wheel and shook her head a bit before her mind wandered to her stomach. She was starving.

Jackie thought about going back home, but she didn't want to be alone in that big house. She'd start to think about things and that's why she'd left in the first place. She thought about going to The Hub, but she hadn't been there since Michael had proposed, and she wasn't planning on going back anytime soon.

Jackie realized she'd been driving around in circles in Point Place for an hour. Everywhere else she could think of, she'd either been there with her entire family, or Michael had taken her there on a date. Everything was tainted, and all she wanted to do was not think.

Jackie drove in a circle around the same place for the third time with something in the corner of her vision caught her eye. She turned to look, and standing there looking extremely disgruntled was Steven, and next to him was his hippy boss Leo, who looked as high as always, but there was a confused tilt to his eyebrow. Steven waved her over.

"Of course it's you." Steven said when she pulled over. Jackie scowled. "What are you doing? Don't you have something better to do than hover around my job for half an hour?"

"Yeah, your driving in circles was freakin' me out man." Leo said, his head making a weird nodding movement.

"Of course I have something better to do _Steven_." Jackie snapped.. "And I wasn't hovering around your job, I was just-." Her stomach growled, and she saw Steven's eyes flick down to her belly from beneath his shades.

"Lookin for somewhere to eat? Yeah I can understand that. Point Place's food gets tiring after the same old junk everyday. I know a great place out of town that we can go to."

Jackie's eyebrows shot up, _"We?"_

"Of course. You owe Leo for freaking him out man."

Jackie rolled her eyes, but quickly unlocked the Lincoln, hoping Steven wouldn't notice how fast she acquiesced. He raised his eyebrows as he got into the car, letting her know he did. Oh well.

* * *

may not make sense but its lit. this chapter ended up being long and it would've been longer but i didn't like how it turned out. posting before i lose my nerve. please review


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